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The UK’s Greenest Cities Revealed

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There’s no denying that spending time in the great outdoors is good for you. Whether that’s playing your favourite sport, tinkering in your allotment or just wandering around your local park. Just being outside, surrounded by fresh air and lush greenery can really lift your mood.

And luckily, you don’t have to travel far to enjoy the great outdoors. Cities across the UK benefit from a wealth of inner-city green space. But who has access to the most?

Utilising data from Ordnance Survey, we were able to look at some of the biggest cities across the country and see just how much open green space their residents have access to, from public parks and gardens to golf courses and bowling greens.

Which city tops the charts for green space?

If you’re just looking at the total area, Birmingham comes out on top, with a whopping 15.58% of the city being made up of open green space. Nottingham comes in second, with 15.34% of the city being green space, followed by Glasgow and Manchester, with 13.49% and 13.13% respectively.

However, what happens when you take the size of the population into account? Having loads of green space is great, but what if it’s so crowded that you can’t really enjoy it?

Looking again at our list of green cities, we added in the population of each area, to find out how many people you’ll be sharing your green space with.

In this new leaderboard, Birmginham drops from 1st place to 6th, with 1m2 of green space for every 273 people. Taking the top spot was Newcastle upon Tyne, with 1m2 of green space for every 83 people.

Coming in last place is the City of London, with 2,701 residents for every 1m2 of green space. However, when you take into account the number of people who work in London but don’t live there (approximately 300,000), it gets even more crowded, with 88,908 people for every 1m2 of green space. Good luck finding a nice grassy spot to sit and eat your lunch on!

What are the health benefits of green space?

Over the years, various studies have shown how access to green space can have a noticeable impact on our wellbeing.

As well as physical benefits through encouraging excerise, green space has also been linked with improving mental health, encouraging social interaction and reducing stress levels.

Luckily, these benefits aren’t resitricted to rural, countryside locations, city-dwellers can enjoy them too. Spending time in any green space, no matter how big or small, can provide the same positive effects.